Minister assures contact-tracing device won't track location as petition against initiative grows

Well-intentioned as it may say to be, a sizeable portion of Singaporeans aren’t at all ready to partake in an initiative to efficiently facilitate contact tracing amidst the pandemic. 

The outcry and outrage emerging online have made it clear that thousands are not willing to strap on devices for contact-tracing purposes on grounds of privacy invasion and unwelcome location tracking. 

Announced in Parliament last Friday (June 5) by Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan — who’s also Minister-in-charge of the Smart Nation Initiative — he explained that Singapore’s own contact-tracing app TraceTogether has not been working well on iOS devices. 

Dr Balakrishnan said that unlike devices that use the Android operating system, Apple devices suspend the use of Bluetooth scanning when the app is running in the background (which aligns with the company’s data-privacy policies). As the app does not work as well as it should across all devices, TraceTogether has not been made compulsory, the minister explained. 

[embed]https://www.facebook.com/Vivian.Balakrishnan.Sg/videos/685499132183161[/embed]

The solution that the government is proposing? A portable device to be distributed to everyone in Singapore, which Dr Balakrishnan believes to be more inclusive (as it can be used without owning a smartphone) and ensures all Singaporeans will be protected. 

The minister did not mention if usage of the device will be enforced. Nor did he allude to a Reuters report that Singapore is considering switching to or adopting a contact-tracing API jointly developed by Apple and Google for device interoperability. 

This prompted an online petition on Change.org entitled “Singapore says ‘No’ to wearable devices for Covid-19 contact tracing” that was launched on the day of Dr Balakrishnan’s announcement. 

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“Such a device, if proven to be successful in trials — and subsequently made available to everyone — would allow contact tracers to locate a person's whereabouts based on their proximity to other persons' phones, cell towers, or potentially their wearable devices themselves,” wrote Wilson Low, who started the petition. 

The man believes that the device is an infringement on privacy and personal space — something that could be used for intrusive surveillance and to “maintain a form of movement on each of us at all times and places”. 

Over the weekend, Low’s petition garnered over 32,000 signatures and counting. 

Opposition party Singapore People’s Party expressed concern over the initiative. “The mere fact that a pandemic exists does not amount to a blank cheque to allow for unwarranted intrusion into seclusions,” the party wrote in a statement yesterday (June 7). 

[embed]https://www.facebook.com/SingaporePeoplesParty/posts/3167501366640062[/embed]

On his end, Dr Balakrishnan has taken to Facebook to answer some of the queries about the proposed wearable devices, explicitly declaring that the government is not tracking anyone’s movements as there will not be any GPS chip installed. It might not even be a wristband, as the minister mentioned that it would be a small device that can be slipped into bags or pockets. 

Other countries such as South Korea, Hong Kong and Bulgaria have been using electronic trackers that assist in enforcing quarantine by way of GPS satellite location data — authorities are alerted to users who aren’t obeying orders to stay at home. 

Dr Balakrishnan, however, asserted that Singapore’s own portable contact-tracing device would have no GPS capabilities or mobile internet connectivity. 

“We believe we are actually being far more protective of privacy than in many other jurisdictions,” he stated.

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ilyas@asiaone.com